"I have only loved once"

-1-

As she entered the town, which looked more like a village, with tents everywhere and a few campfires around. People were laughing, some of them sitting by the fire, warming their hands and holding them right next to the yellow flame. She was walking in absolute silence, moving only where the shadows were, trying her best not to get caught by a group of Native Americans.

"One of them is a vampire; remember that, Julia." She remembered the words, which belonged to the baron of Massachusetts Town. It wasn't the first vampire she was sent to kill, but she still had to learn a lot about them and their behavior. How they mixed up with human societies and lived there unnoticed is sometimes the reason why locals disappear and never return. Julia Belmont, the daughter of Juste Belmont, possessed magic powers and trained hard to become a well-known vampire hunter, as all Belmonts were. Her ambitions, however, were set way higher than her father's, pushing her through excruciating training and days spent acknowledging the vampire species.

She slowly reached for the whip she had attached to her belt on her right hip. Watching closely, the woman noticed movement in one of the tents. Curious about who stayed there all alone, she walked up closer. Then she spotted another shadow figure inside, right behind the fabric wall.

Then Julia heard two different male voices, and she knew immediately that one of them must be the vampire she was searching for. She waited for them to leave the tent, so she could wrap the whip around the victim's neck and drag him to the nearby forest. To her surprise, right after she grabbed the whip with her hand, one of the men left the tent. His long black hair, reaching his elbows, parts of which were braided nicely, was lying on his shoulders and back. He was smiling, not knowing the terrible things that were going to happen to him in the next few seconds. Judging by his pointy ears, she knew. It was him.

Without even a bit of hesitation, she threw the whip, which swirled around the man's neck. She pulled it toward her and watched as the vampire fell to the ground, desperately trying to loosen the whip's grip.

The woman dragged his body toward the trees, hoping the other man didn't notice. Unfortunately, right when she entered the forest, he walked outside and looked around in a rush. And then he noticed them. Julia tightened the grip on the vampire's neck, and to her surprise, he hadn't even tried to fight her; instead, he was only trying to free himself. The horror he had in his bloody red eyes as tears started dripping slowly down his cheeks. The man couldn't get rid of the whip on his neck, which was getting tighter and tighter with his every move. It crushed part of his hair underneath it, hurting his scalp.

Belmont noticed the other man getting closer and closer, faster than she expected. His tall and muscular posture moved quickly toward her, his hair as black and long as the night sky, and her victim's hair.

"Something is odd about this man. Is he a vampire too..?" She asked herself in her thoughts when the other man's glowing, bright green eyes met hers. He saw her. She was one hundred percent sure she was going to end up dead, as well as the vampire under her feet. And while Julia was thinking of how to escape, the vampire was slowly losing consciousness, his eyes closing as more tears streamed down his face. He was suffocating, dying in agony, only wishing at the moment for her to drive a knife down his chest to kill him so he would not suffer anymore.

"Kwahu! Kwahu, are you out there?!" The calls full of pain she heard made her brain freeze. Something was telling her that both of these men were vampires, even though people only talked about one. Only then did she notice that the vampire she wanted to kill stopped breathing and lost consciousness.

"I did it... And he didn't even fight, what a coward..!" She thought. As soon as she noticed she had done what she was supposed to, the whip's grip let go of the vampire's neck. Julia disappeared in between the trees, leaving the dead body behind her.

And then the green-eyed man found his lover deceased in the forest.

His red eyes lost their color. A deep, bruised mark on his neck, signaling he suffocated to death. Some blood ran from his nose, staining his lips and pointy teeth. The look on the dead man's face completely devastated the other man. The warrior, his good friend, boyfriend, his lover was dead.

Olrox felt tears stream down his defined cheekbones. His heart was hurting so bad that he felt like it was dying by itself. He dropped to his knees right next to his lover, grabbing him with his hands and shaking him, hoping he was alive.

--

"You know nothing is going to happen if we stay here, Olrox?" The red-eyed vampire said, his hands holding Olrox's forearms, not letting him walk away.

"My dear, I think it would be better if we went socializing with your community and your family." His lover answered.

"Olrox, please. I have a gut feeling that-"

"Alright, alright... Me too, Kwahu, I also feel anxious about going out there. Let's stay"

They were both lying down on the ground, cuddling with each other, wrapped in tons of warm and thick blankets. They talked about things that weren't really important. Both Kwahu and Olrox enjoyed each other's company, feeling safe next to each other. They felt like they'd been together since childhood.

The Aztec vampire traveled all the way to Massachusetts for some reason he wasn't really aware of, wishing he would return home as soon as possible. Little did he know, he would stay there for over five years, living the best life he could've ever imagined. At first, he was afraid of judgment; he was looking way different from the locals. His skin was much darker, he was tall, and he had muscles as a warrior should. His black hair was shiny and long, the left side of his bangs and part of the hair before his pointy ear were braided neatly, revealing silver earrings.

While the man he fell for was a bit smaller than him, skinnier and more feminine, even though he also was a warrior. Kwahu was native to America. He also had long black hair with parts of it braided, and two hawk feathers attached to cords on the ends of two of the six braids he had. His skin was decorated with sun-kissed freckles and red marks he painted on his shoulders, chest and face.

--

The memory of the only person who really understood Olrox made him cry himself to sleep next to his lover's body in the woods. He didn't know if hours or days passed before he finally left his man's side and walked back to the village.

Olrox promised to kill the woman who took away his soulmate.